Facebook slashes price of Oculus Rift for second time

Facebook has slashed the price of the Oculus Rift for a second time, as part of its “Summer of Rift” sales season. The Oculus Rift and Touch controller are available for $399 and will remain at that price for six weeks.

It is the second time Facebook has cut the price of the Oculus Rift since it acquired the company for $2 billion in 2014. Oculus launched its first consumer version in early 2016, but the first few months were plagued by shipping delays.

The original cost of the Oculus Rift, $599, put a lot of consumers off, especially with the additional hardware cost to make the games playable. Consumers that don’t already own a PC could see the cost pass $1,500, before purchasing any games or accessories.

Even though the reduction in price doesn’t do much for consumers without a PC, it may perk the interest of gamers that have been on the fence about the Oculus. However, some may wait for Oculus next headset, which is expected to launch in 2018.

The VR market has not blossomed as much as Facebook may have been hoping, but analysts project a growth in sales over the next five years, led by mobile VR headsets. Oculus already works with Samsung on the Gear VR, but may look to build its own hardware in the future.